My toddler will only eat about 5 things a day

[ClaireMcQueen]

My 5 yo used to eat everything up until he was 2 he now only eats biscuits, yoghurts, fruit pouches, turkey dinosaurs, chicken gouging and crisp I am so worried he is not getting the nutrients that he should be it’s a constant worry and stress at dinner time . Is there any advice please?

Is he drinking a lot of milk that’s filling him up? Is he at school?

There isn't a single real food in there and only ultra-processed junk, so one by one you will have to make the transition to the real food.
Start with the pouches. He can have them, but only if emptied in a bowl and eaten with a spoon. Then one day, offer home made apple sauce. Same with the yoghurt if it is a pouch.
Learn how to make a chicken schnitzel and offer it instead of the dinosaurs.

You need to slowly wash out all the junk he is addicted to. As log as he is received it, he will never accept real food.

OP, is your child neurodiverse?

PS. I do have advice but only if your little one is ND. That's my area of parent expertise

No he is not ND but just very fussy!! Only fruit he will eat is some apple, I’ve tried everything I’m just worried about the nutrients he isn’t getting so I give lots of vitamins he has milk in morning and evening but that’s it

Are you familiar with Ellyn Satter's division of responsibility at mealtimes? Your responsibility is to decide what the options are, where and when the meals happen. Your child decides if, what and how much to eat.

If you serve meals family style rather than plated up, he can take what he wants. Or if you do plate up, serve tiny portions. Better for him to ask for me than be overwhelmed by a huge pile of food on his plate. When you are introducing something new, or something that he's previously rejected, then have some safe foods you know he will eat with it, and then you know he'll eat something and you aren't making him another meal afterwards. At mealtimes, let him choose what he eats with no commentary. No cajoling, no 'one more bite', no aeroplanes, no 'Daddy this broccoli is delicious, DS is really missing out on the tasty broccoli', no threats of removing dessert. This might not make him eat, but you can't control that, and taking any anxiety out of mealtimes might make him more likely to try new things.